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Abraham Lincoln 

and His Last Resting Place 



A Leaflet Published for 
Distribution (3^ //zg National 
Lincoln Monument in the 
City of Springfield, Illinois 




Compiled by EDWARD S. 
JOHNSON, Custodian 



BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: 

HON. EDWARD F. DUNNE, : : Governor 
HON. FRANCIS G. BLAIR, Supt. Pub. Instruction 
HON. ANDREW RUSSELL, : : Treasurer 



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HE Life of Abraham Lincoln has been written 
by many men in many tongues. The resources 
of rhetoric and eloquence have been exhausted 
in their portrayal of this character that however viewed 
holds a lesson for all mankind. In this brief space and 
for the purpose which this leaflet is designed to serve, 
the simple homely details of the martyred President's 
early life could not be better told than in his own 
words. No polished recital could be so prized by the 
great multitude who hold his memory dear as this 
transcript of a letter written in 1859 to his friend the 
Hon. Jesse W. Fell, of Bloomington, Illinois: 



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ABRAHAM LINCOLN little thought as he penned the words, 
"What I have done since then is pretty well known," that a 
world would one day listen enthralled to the tale of what he had 
done and should do in the decade from 1855 to 1865. 

In 1854, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 opened a 
new political era, and an agitation of the slavery question was begun 
which was destined to grow until the shackles were struck forever 
from the hands of the slave. 

By this repeal slavery claimed protection everywhere ; it sought to 
nationalize itself. At this time the question of "popular sovereignty" 
arose, the right of the people of a territory to choose their own institu- 
tions, and upon this question Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas fought the 
"battle of the giants." and Mr. Lincoln's signal ability as an orator was 
forever established. He became at once the leader of his party in the 
West and the foremost champion of the liberties of the oppressed. 

In a private letter, written at this time, Mr. Lincoln defines his 
position on the great question of the day as follows: 

I acknowledge your rights and my obligations under the Constitution 
in regard to your slaves. I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted 
down and caught and carried back to their stripes and unrequited toil, but 
I keep quiet. You ought to appreciate how much the great body of the 
people of the North crucify their feelings in order to maintain their loyalty 
to the Constitution and the Union. I do onpose the extension of slavery 
because my judgment and feelings so prompt me, and I am under no obli- 
gations to the contrary. As a nation we began by declaring "all men are 
created equal." We now practically read it, "all men are created equal 
except negroes." When it comes to making wholesale exceptions I should 
prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving 
liberty, where despotism can be taken pure without the base alloy of 
hypocrisy. Your friend, A. Lincoln 

May 29, 1856, the Republican party of Illinois was organized, and 
he was now the leader of a party whose avowed purpose it was to resist 
the extension of slavery. At the national convention his name was 
presented as a candidate for vice president. He did not receive the 
required number of votes, but the action was complimentary and served 
as Mr. Lincoln's formal introduction to the nation. 

The senatorial campaign of 1858 in Illinois was memorable for the 
questions involved and for the debates between Douglas and Lincoln 
upon the great issues that w^ere even then distracting the nation. When 
these two met in intellectual combat the nation paused to listen. "The 
eyes of all the Eastern states were turned to the West where young 
republicanism and old democracy were establishing the dividing lines 
and preparing for the great struggle soon to begin." 

To say that Mr. Lincoln was the victor in the contest morally and 
intellectually is simply to record the judgment of the world. 

His speeches were clear, logical, powerful and exhaustive. On 
these his reputation as an orator and debater rests. They defined the 
difference between the power of slavery and the policy of freedom 
which ended, after expenditures of uncounted treasure and unmeasured 
blood, in the final overthrow of the institution of slavery. 



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and HIS LAST resting pi ace 



Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this campaign and Mr. Douglas was 
returned to the Senate, but Mr. Lincoln was now thoroughly committed 
to politics. In ISo'J and LS60 he journeyed in the Eastern states, mak- 
ing speeches that thrilled and electrified the audiences which he had 
expected to find cold and critical. 

The mutterings of secession already filled the land. The spirit of 
unrest and rebellion was gaining ground ; but wherever the voice of 
Lincoln was heard it was pleading for union, for peace, for the Consti- 
tution, deprecating the evils of slavery as it existed, and protesting 
against its extension into the free states and territories. 

His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, warning the men 
of the North and the South that a house divided against itself cannot 
stand. On the 18th of May, ISGO, Mr. Lincoln received the nom- 
ination of the republican convention held at Chicago for President of 
the United States. How this plain, comparatively unknown Illinois 
lawyer was chosen in this critical hour before a man like Seward, with 
his wide experience and acquaintance, his large influence and surpass- 
ing ability, his name and fame of thirty years standing, must be 
regarded as the guiding of that Providence that had brooded over 
the life of the republic since it declared itself to be the home of the 
free, the refuge of the oppressed. On the 6th of November Mr. 
Lincoln was elected, by a handsome plurality. President of the United 
States. 

At eight o'clock Monday morning, February 11, 1861, Mr, Lincoln 
left Springfield for the National Capitol to enter upon his duties as 
President. With these simple words he took leave of his friends and 
neighbors : 

My friends: No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I 
feel at tliis parting. To tJiis people I ewe all that I am. Here I have lived 
more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and here one 
of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty 
devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than that which has devolved 
upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have 
succeeded except by the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all 
times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid 
which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance 
for support, and 1 hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that 
Divine assistance without which I cannot succeed, but with which success 
is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell. 

These proved to be his last words to Springfield auditors. 

The result of his election pleased and united the North while it 
angered the South. To the more thoughtful men of both parties a crisis 
seemed imminent. The Southern states immediately seceded ; the 
Southern Confederacy was formed with Jefterson Davis as President; 
forts and arsenals were seized and tiic war of the rebellion fairly inaugu- 
rated. It was this disrupted union, this all but shattered government, 
which waited for the man who upon the fourth day of March, 1861, 
took the oath of office and became the President of the United States. 

The closing words of his memorable inaugural address must have 
convinced his listeners of the wisdom, the strength, the gentleness of 
this new incumbent of the chair of State : 

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LINCOLN MONUMENT 



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In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is 
the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. 
Vou can have no conllict without being yourselves the aggressors. You 
have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall 
have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. I am loath 
to close. We are not enemies, but friends. The mystic cords of memory, 
stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart 
and hearthstone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the 
Union when again touched, as they surely will be, by the better angels of 
our nature. 

With infinite patience and uneqtialed forbearance and sagacity, 
Air. Lincoln strove to avert war, btit when, on April 12, 18G1, the rebel 
batteries were opened upon Fort Sumter, forbearance was no longer 
possible, and, on the 15th day of April, the pen that had only been 
used to counsel moderation, to urge loyalty, penned a proclamation 
calling for seventy-live thousand men, and the Civil War was begun. 




ITliMC VATLT AT OAK I11I)(JE 

The remains of President Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in 
Washington, were placed in this vault May 4, 1S65. 

The popular government had been called an experiment. Two points 
of the experiment had already been settled : The government had been 
established and it had Ijccn administered. One point remained to be 
established: Its successftil maintenance against a formi(lal)le internal 
attempt to overthrow it. Congress abl}- supported Mr. Lincoln. It 
I)lacc(l at his disposal five hundred million dollars and gave him liberty 
to call out half a million men. During all the years of that long, sad 
war there were loyal hearts among his admirers that held up the hands 
of their President, but the crowning personality, the strong, pervading, 
directing, controlling spirit was that of Abraham Lincoln, whether 
watching the progress of events from his almost beleagtiered capital or 
while visiting and mingling with his army at the front. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



and HIS LAST resting place 



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Never for a moment did he lay aside his personal responsibility. 
Never did he swerve from his resolve, expressed in the words of his 
memorable speech at the dedication of the soldiers' graves at Gettys- 
burg: 

We have come to dedicate a portion of this field as a final resting place 
for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. But, in a 
larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow 
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have 
consecrated it far beyond our power to add or detract. The world will little 
note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what 
they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have so nobly advanced. It is 
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, 
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for 
which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under 
God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

The story of the war and the life of Lincoln are inseparable. The 
recital of all those years of marching, camping, fighting; of wounds, 
privations, victory, defeat and death, cannot be made without the story 
of Lincoln interwoven into its warp and woof. In intimate connection 
with his life as President, many beautiful letters remain, written during 
this period of storm and stress, and they attest to his quick and unfail- 
ing sympathy with those in trouble. Such is the line written in haste 
carrying pardon to the worn-out lad sentenced to be shot for sleeping at 
his post. 

The letter sent to the gentle Quaker, Eliza P. Gurney, who, on 
behalf of her people, the Friends, protested against what seemed to 
them the great sin of war. To her he writes : 

Surely, He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, 
which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay. Your people, the 
Friends, have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle and faith, 
opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose 
oppression by war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one horn and 
some the other. For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have 
done, and shall do, the best I could and can., in my own conscience, under 
my oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not; and believing it, I 
shall still receive, for our country and myself, your earnest prayers to our 
Father in Heaven. 

Only a few months before his death he heard the pathetic story of 
Mrs. Bixby of Boston, Mass., who had given up five sons who had died 
in their country's service. Mr. Lincoln wrote her this beautiful letter 
of condolence which is said to rank next to his Gettysburg address in 
depth of feeling, beauty, and simplicity of diction : 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, November 21, 1864. 
To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass.: 

I have been shown in the file of the War Department a statement to the 
Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who 
have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless 
must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

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grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I caunot refrain from tendering you 
the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to 
save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your 
bereavement and leave only the cherished memory of the loved and lost and 
the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the 
altar of freedom. 

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 

A. Lincoln 

The days fraught with the grave issues of the war went by, victory 
alternating with defeat until, in the judgment of the commantler-in- 
chief, the time had come to emancipate the colored race. 

Early in August of 1862, President Lincoln called a meeting of his 
Cabinet and submitted for their consideration the original draft of his 
Emancipation Proclamation. On the first day of January, 1863, Mr. 
Lincoln issued the final Proclamation of Emancipation, bringing free- 
dom to fotn- million slaves and removing forever from the land he 
loved the blot of slavery. 

It seemed fitting that to this man who had blazed the way through 
the wilderness for this cause, who had brooded and smarted under the 
sense of the sin of slavery from his early vmtaught youth, who in 
clarion tones, had declared, at the outset of his career, that he "would 
speak for freedom against slavery until everywhere in all this broad 
land the sun shall shine, the rain shall fall and the wind shall blow upon 
no man who goes forth to unrequited toil." It was meet that from his 
lips should fall the words that made fotir million men free, and it is in 
consonance with the character of the great Emancipator that in this 
supreme moment of his life he reverently invoked tipon the act "the 
considerate jtidgment of mauls ind and the gracious favor of Almighty 
God." 

The latter part of the year iSli.') was marked by the success of the 
Union armies. Tlic Republican National Convention assembled in 
Baltimore, June s, isiil, unanimously nominating Mr. Lincoln as their 
candidate for I 'resident. IJis words accepting this nomination were 
characteristic : 

Having served four yeais in the dipths of a great and yet unended 
national peril, I can view this call to a second term in no wise more flatter- 
ing to myself th;in as an expression of the public judgment that I may better 
finish a difficult work than could any one less severely schooled to tlie task. 
In this view, and with assured reliance on that Almighty Ruler who has so 
graciously sustained us thus far, and with increased gratitude to the gen- 
erous people for their continued confidence, 1 accept the renewed trust with 
its yet onerous and peri)lexing duties and responsibilities. 

During the height of the canvass, President Lincoln issued a call 
for i\vc hundred thousand men ; also making i)rovisions for a draft if 
necessary. His friends feared that this measure might cost him his 
election, but he waived that asiile as he always did personal considera- 
tion that might conflict with duty. 

November came, and with it Mr. Lincoln's reelection. His second 
election proved the death blow to the rebellion. Erom that time the 
Sotithern armies never gained a stibstantial victory. When the Thirty- 
eighth Congress assembled December 6, 1861, President Lincoln recom- 



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mended an amendment to the Constitution making human slavery for- 
ever impossible in the United States. 

The joint resolution for the extinction of slavery passed Congress 
and received the signature of the President January 31, 1865. The 
legislature in Illinois, being then in session, took up the question at 
once and in less than twenty-four hours after its passage by Congress 
Mr. Lincoln had the satisfaction of receiving a telegram from his old 
home announcing the fact that the constitutional amendment had been 
ratified b}^ both houses of the legislature of his own state February 1, 
1865. The action of the legislatures of other states soon followed, and 
thus was completed and confirmed the work of the Proclamation of 
Emancipation. 

Upon the 4th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln was for the second time 
inaugurated President of the United States. His inaugural address 
upon that occasion has become a classic. Its closing words have been 
quoted wherever the foot of an American has strayed beneath the sun : 
Fondly do we hope, reverently do we pray that this mighty scourge 
of war may speedily pass away, yet, if God wills that it continue until all 
the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be 
paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, 
so still it must be said, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether. With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we 
are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne 
the battle, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace 
among ourselves and with all nations. 

The closing scenes of the war were being enacted in quick succes- 
sion. Richmond had fallen, and on the 4th day of April, just one 
month after his second inauguration. President Lincoln, leading his 
little son by the hand, entered the vanquished city on foot. Never has 
the world seen a more modest conqueror, a more characteristic tri- 
umphal procession. No army with banners and drums, only a few of 
those who have been slaves escorting the victorious chief with bene- 
dictions and tears into the capital of the fallen foe. 

A few more days brought the surrender of Lee's army and peace 
was assured. Everywhere festive guns were booming, bells pealing, 
churches ringing with thanksgiving. 

The 14th of April was the anniversary of the fall of Sumter. 
President Lincoln had ordered that day to Idc signalized by restoring 
the old flag to its place on the shattered ramparts of Fort Sumter. He 
ordered the same faith fttl hands that pulled it down to raise it — every 
battery that fired upon it should salute it. Said the Rev. Henry Ward 
Beecher upon that occasion : "From this pulpit of broken stone we send 
to the President of the United States our solemn congrattilations that 
God has stistained his life and health tmder the unparalleled hardships 
and sufifering of four bloody years and permitted him to behold this 
auspicious constnnmation of that national unity for which he has 
labored with sttch disinterested wisdom." 

But, before the kindly words had flashed over the telegraph wires 
to the ears of the patient man in whose honor they were spoken, the 



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bullet of the assassin had done its work. The sad words, "I feel a 
presentiment that I shall not outlast the rebellion ; when it is over my 
work will be done," were verified, and all civilized mankind stood 
mourning around the bier of the dead President. Then began that 
unparalleled funeral procession, a mournful pageant, passing country 
and village and city, winding along the territories of vast states, along 
a track of fifteen hundred miles, carrying the revered dead back to his 
own people, to the scenes of his early life, back to the prairies of Illi- 
nois. Said Beecher in his eloquent and touching funeral oration : 

Four years ago, Oh, Illinois! we took from your midst an untried man 
from among the people. Behold! we return to you a mighty conqueror, not 
ours any more, but the nation's. Not ours but the world's. Give him place. 
Oh, ye prairies! In the midst of this great continent his dust shall rest, a 
sacred treasure to the myriads who shall come as pilgrims to that shrine to 
kindle anew their zeal and patriotism. Humble child of the backwoods, 
boatman, hired laborer, clerk, surveyor, captain, legislator, lawyer, debater, 
politician, orator, statesman, president savior of the republic, true Christian, 
true man. We receive thy life and its immeasurably great results as the 
choicest gifts that have ever been bestowed upon us; grateful to thee for 
thy truth to thyself, to us and to God; and grateful to that ministry of 
Providence which endowed thee so richly and bestowed thee upon the nation 
and mankind. 

THE MONUMENT. 

The body of Abraham Lincoln was deposited in the receiving vatilt 

at Oak Ridge Cemetery May 4, 1865. 

Upon the 13 th of May, 1865, the National Lincoln Monument 

Association was formed, its object being to construct a monument to 

the iriemory of Aljraham Lincoln in the City of Springfield, Illinois. 
The names of the gentlemen comprising the Lincoln Monument 

Association in 1865 (now deceased) were as follows: 

Gov. Richard Oglesby, Sharon Tyndale, 

Orlin H. Miner, Thomas J. Dennis, 

John T. Stuart, Newton Bateman, 

. Jesse K. DuBois, S. H. Treat, 

James C. Conkling, O. M. Hatch, 

John Williams, S. H. Melvin, 

Jacob Bunn, James H. Beveridge, 

David L. Phillips. 

The temporary vault was Inn'lt and the liody of President Lincoln 
removed from the receiving vault of the cemetery on December 21, 
1865. The body was placed in the crypt of the monument September 
19, 1871, and was placed in the sarcophagus in the center of the cata- 
comb October 9, 1874. 

Owing to the instability of tlie earth under its foundation and its 
imequal settling the structure had begtin to show signs of disintegration, 
necessitating taking it down and rebuikh'ng it from the foundation. 
The work was begun by Col. J. S. Culver in November, 1899, and fin- 
i.shed June 1, 1901. A cemented vault was made beneath the floor of 
the catacomb directly underncatli the sarcophagus and in this vault the 
body of President Lincoln was placed September 26, 1901, where it 
will probably remain undisturbed forever. 



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The monument is built of brick and Quincy granite, the latter 
material only appearing in view. It consists of a square base 72J^ 
feet on each side and 15 feet, 10 inches high. At the north side of 
the base is a semi-circular projection, the interior of which has a 
radius of 12 feet. It is the vestibule of the catacomb, and gives 
access to view the crypts in which are placed the bodies of Mr. 
Lincoln's wife and sons and his grandson, Abraham Lincoln, son 
of Hon. Robert T. Lincoln. On the south side of the base is 
another semi-circular projection of the same size, but this is con- 
tinued into the base so as to produce a room of elliptical shape, 
which is called Memorial Hall. Thus the base measures, including 
these two projections, 119^ feet from north to south and 72^ 
feet from east to west. In the angles formed by the addition of 
these two projections are handsome flights of stone steps, two on 
each end. These steps are projected by granite balustrades, which 
extend completely around the top of the base, which forms a ter- 
race. From the plane of this terrace rises the obelisk, or die, which 
is 28 feet 4 inches high from the ground, and tapered to 11 feet 
square at the top. At the angles of this die are four pedestals of 11 
feet diameter, rising 12^^-2 feet above the plane of the terrace. This 
obelisk, including the area occupied by the pedestals, is 41 feet 
square, while from the obelisk rises the shaft, tapering to 8 feet 
square at the summit. Upon the four pedestals stand the four 
bronze groups, representing the four arms of the service — Infantry, 
Cavalry, Artillery and Navy. Passing around the whole obelisk and 
pedestal is a band or chain of shields, each representing a state, the 
name of which is carved upon it. At the south side of the obelisk 
is a square pedestal, 7 feet high, supporting the statue of Lincoln, 
the pedestal being ornamented with the coat of arms of the United 
States. This coat of arms, in the position it occupies on the monu- 
ment, is intended to typify the Constitution of the United States. 
Mr. Lincoln's statue on the pedestal above it makes the whole an 
illustration of his position at the outbreak of the rebellion. He 
took his stand on the Constitution as his authority for using the 
four arms of the war power of the Government — the Infantry, 
Cavalry, Artillery and Navy — to hold together the states which are 
represented still lower on the monument by a cordon of tablets 
linking them together in a perpetual bond of union. 

The money used in the original construction of this handsome 
monument came from the people by voluntary contributions. The 
first entry made by the treasurer of the association was May 8, 
1865, and was from Isaac Reed, of New York, $100. Then came 
contributions from Sunday schools, lodges. Army associations, indi- 
viduals and states. The Seventy-third Regiment, United States 
colored troops, at New Orleans, contributed $1,437, a greatet 
amount than was given by any other individual or organization 
except the State of Illinois. Many pages of the record are filled 
with the contributions from the Sunday schools of the land, and 
of the 5,145 entries, 1,697 are from Sunday schools. The largest 



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part of the money was contributed in 1^65, but it continued to 
come to the treasurer from all parts of the country until 1S71. 
About $8,000 was contributed by the colored soldiers of the United 
States Arniv. Only three states made appropriations for this fund 
—Illinois, $50.000:' Missouri, $1,000, and Nevada. $500. 

The monument was dedicated October 15, 1874, the occasion 
beinsf signalized by a tremendous outpotirinjj^ of the people, the 
oration commemorative of the life and public services of the p^reat 
emancipator bcinc; delivered by Governor Richard J. O.s^lesby. 
President Grant also spoke briefly on that occasion, and a poem 
was read by James Judson Lord. 

The monument was built after the accepted desi.s^ns of Larkin 
G. Mead, of Florence, Italy, and stands upon an eminence in Oak 
Ridjsre Cemetery, occupyin.sf about nine acres of ground. Ground 
was broken on the site September 10, 1809, in the presence of 3,000 
persons. The capstone was placed in position on May 22. 1871. 

In July, 1871. citizens of Chicag-o. through Hon. J. Young 
Scammon, contributed $13,700 to pay for the Infantry group of 
statuary. In the city of New York, under the leadership of Gov. 
E. D. Morgan, 137 gentlemen subscribed and paid $100 each, 
amounting to $13,700 for the Naval group. 

Of the four groups of statuary, the Naval .group was the first 
completed. This group represents a scene on the deck of a gunboat. 
The mortar is poised ready for action ; the gunner has rolled up 
a shell ready for firing; the boy, or powder monkey, climbs to the 
highest point and is peering into the distance; the ofificer in com- 
mand is about to examine the situation through the telescope. 

The Infantry group was the next to reach Springfield. Both 
these groups were placed in position on the monument in Septem- 
ber, 1877. The Infantry group represents an officer, a private 
soldier and a drummer, with arms and accoutrements, marching 
in expectation of battle. The ofKicer in command raises the flag 
with one hand, pointing to the enemy with the other, orders a 
charge. The private with the musket, as the representative of the 
whole line, is in the act of executing the charge. The drummer 
boy has become excited, lost his cap. thrown away his haversack 
and drawn a revolver to take part in the conflict. 

The Artillery group represents a piece of artillery in battle. 
The enemy has succeeded in directing a shot so well as to dismount 
the gun. The officer in command mounts his disabled piece and 
with drawn saber fronts the enemy. The youthful soldier, with 
uplifted hands, is horrified at the havoc around him. The wounded 
and prostrate soldier wears a look of intense agony. 

The Cavalry group, consisting of two human figures and a 
horse, represents a battle scene. The horse, from whose back the 
rider has just been thrown, is franticall\- rearing. The wotuided 
and dying trumpeter, supported bv a comrade, is bravely facing 
death. Each of these groups cost $13,700. 



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The statue of Mr. Lincoln stands on a pedestal projecting 
from the south side of the obelisk. This is the central figure in 
the group, or series of groups. As we gaze upon this heroic figure 
the mute lips seem again to speak in the memorable words that 
are now immortal. We hear again the ringing sentences spoken 
in 1851) of the slave power: 

Broken by it, I too, may be; bow to it, I never wiU. * * * If ever I 
feel the sonl within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly 
unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of 
my country deserted by all the world beside, and I, standing up boldly and 
alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, without contem- 
plating consequences, before high Heaven and in the face of the world, I 
swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, 
my liberty and my love. 

From the day of its dedication, October 15, 1874. until July 9, 
1895, the Lincoln Monument remained in the control of the 
National Lincoln Monument Association. 

Li 1874, after its dedication. John Carroll Power was made 
custodian, and continued in that possession until his death in 
January, 1894. A sketch of the Lincoln Monument could not, in 
fairness, be written without paying a tribute to his faithfulness, 
zeal and love. He revered the nation's hero and gave to his last 
resting place the tenderest and most assiduous care. Much that 
is of interest in the history of this first decade of the existence of 
the monument has been written by his untiring pen that would 
otherwise have been lost. 

After the attempt was made to steal the body of President Lin- 
coln, Mr. Power summoned to his aid, in 1880, eight gentlemen, 
residents of Springfield, who organized as the "Lincoln Guard of 
Honor." They were J. Carroll Power, deceased ; Jasper N. Reece, 
deceased ; Gustavus S. Dana ; James F. McNeill ; Joseph P. Lind- 
ley ; Edward S. Johnson ; Horace Chapin ; Noble B. Wiggins, 
deceased, and Clinton L. Conkling. Their object was to guard 
the precious dust of Abraham Lincoln from vandal hands and to 
condtict, upon the anniversaries of his birth and death, suitable 
memorial exercises. 

During these years an admittance fee of twenty-five cents was 
required of all visitors to the monument, and this small fee consti- 
tuted a fund by which the custodian was paid and the necessary 
expenses of the care of the grounds defrayed. 

In the winter of 1894, in response to a demand voiced almost 
universally by the press and the people of Illinois, the General 
Assembly made provision for the transfer of the National Lincoln 
Monument and grounds to the permanent care and custody of the 
State. The new law puts the monument into the charge of a board 
of control, consisting of the Governor of the State, the State Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction and the State Treasurer. 

July 9, 1895, Hon. Richard J. Oglesby, the President, the only 
surviving member of the original Lincoln Monument Association, 
turned over to the State, as represented by its chief executive, 



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Governor Altgeld, the deeds and papers relatinj;- in the monument 
and grounds. The governor received the trust on behalf of the 
State, pledging its faithfulness to the duty of guarding and caring 
for the last resting place of the illustrious dead. The commission 
appointed as custodian Edward S. Johnson, major of the veteran 
Seventh Illinois Infantry and a member of the Lincoln Guard of 
Honor. The admittance fee is a thing of the past and "To the Mecca 
of the people let all the people come, bringing garlands of flowers, 
carrying away lessons of life. There is no shrine more worthy of a 
devotee, no academy of the porch or grove where is taught so 
simply and so grandly the principles of greatness. Strew flowers, 
but bear away the imprint of his life, the flower of manliness and 
the wreath of honor. "f 

In the two score years since the death of Abraham Lincoln 
the scars of war have healed, the peace and unity for which he 
prayed have been realized, and it seems fitting to bring this brief 
recital of his life and the story of the strife from which it is insepar- 
able up to date with this glance at the present : 

"I have seen the new South ! But I saw it not by the Potomac, 
nor by the Cumberland. 1 saw it by the shore of that peaceful lake 
whose waters are broad enough to carry the fleet of the world and 
deep enough to bury in its bosom all the hatred and all the sorrows 
of the past. I saw the new South, with her helmet on, bowing to 
the august Present. 

"She had not forgotten the Past, but was bravely giving herself 
to a welcoming Future. There is a great city in the North, known 
all over as the type of restless, eager, business activity. Behold 
on one day every shop and store and factory was closed ! The hum 
of trade was hushed ! The pulse of trafiic had ceased to beat ! And 
all this was because Chicago, gathering her own dead to her heart, 
found room for the brothers who wore the gray. Longstreet and 
Lee. and liam])ton sat at her hearths while the bugle and the drum 
proclaimed the everlasting peace. 

"When the monument which marks the tomb of the Confeder- 
ate (lead at Oak woods was dedicated, North and South marched 
together in streets thronged not with enemies but friends. 

"Rememi)ering their own heroic dead, the North reverently 
uncovered while the South gave tears and flowers to hers. 

"The new South stood in line with the new North, and above 
them both towered a form, brave, jniissant. serene and free. It was 
Till. m:w nation.'"* 

tRev. Uoswell O. Post's oration at the t<iinb of Lini-oln, April, 1883. 
•From Cieorge R. Peck's oration before the University of VirKinia, .June, 1895. 
Tlie fiinipiter trishcs to acknowledge indihlidiiin.i to ./. (1. Ilolland'.i Lije of Lincoln. 



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THE SOUVENIRS. 

Within Memorial Hall at the south end of the IMonument the 
visitor will find a number of interesting articles which were used by 
Mr. Lincoln personally, or which are in some way associated with his 
memory. 

Among these is a block of rough-hewn brown stone bearing an 
inscription in Latin, which was sent to Lincoln after his election for 
the second time as President of the United States, by a group of 
patriotic citizens of Rome. An interesting story is connected with this 
stone. In the early days of Roman history, about five hundred and 
seventy-eight years before the birth of Christ, there ascended to the 
throne of Rome a wise and good king called Servius Tullius. His 
origin is more or less mythological but it is supposed that one or both 
of his parents were slaves. This king ruled with justice and benevo- 
lence and his earnest efforts were directed toward the amelioration of 
the condition of the common people. He deprived the creditor of the 
right to make a slave of his impecunious debtor and even succeeded in 
establishing a constitution which gave these poor wretches political 
independence. 

These acts of the king aroused the jealousy and hatred of the 
nobility and they determined upon his destruction. Tullius had two 
daughters, both married. One called Tullia, of evil memory, killed her 
own husband and espoused Lucius Tarcjuinius, the husband of her 
gentler sister who had been murdered by this same Tarquinius. 
Tarquinius and Tullia at the head of the mob seized the throne of 
Tullius, and that unfortunate monarch while walking unsuspectingly 
through the streets of his city, was struck down and assassinated by a 
follower of his wicked son-in-law. His body was left in the street 
where it fell and his infamous daughter Tullia drove her chariot over 
it in triumph. 

One of the earliest acts of Servius Tullius had been to add to his 
capital three of the neighboring hills, thus making Rome the City of 
Seven Hills. Around the boundary of the new city he built a wall of 
stone which encircled Rome for seven hundred years and was always 
known as the wall of Servius Tullius. 

During the centuries of oppression and tyranny which make up 
the history of Rome, there has always existed a small minority who 
have loved liberty and justice and these few kept alive from generation 
to generation the memory of Servius Tullius. Looking on from afar 
at the four years' struggle in the United States, in which freedom for 
the down-trodden was eventually gained, the patriots of Rome saw in 
President Lincoln, whose great heart and steadfast courage had liber- 
ated four million slaves, an embodiment of their ideal of the ancient 
king whose memory they so lovingly cherished. Therefore, after his 
second election as President, they took from the Wall of Servius 
Tullius, where it had reposed for more than two thousand years, a 



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fragment of stone. On it they engraved in Latin an inscription which, 
translated, reads : 










/xXy, 




"TO ABRAHAM I>1\C'ULX, iniESIDExNT FUli THE SECOND 
TIME OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, CITIZENS OF ROME 
PRESENT THIS STONE, FROM THE WALL OF SERVIUS TUI^ 
LI US, BY WHICH THE MEMORY OF EACH OF THESE ASSERT- 
ORS OF LIBERTY MAY BE ASSOCIATED. 1865." 

This stone they sent to President Lincohi. In all proljability it 
reached him before his death and with his characteristic modesty he 
forebore to mention it. It was eventually discovered in the basement 
of the White House. By an act of Congress, 1870, introduced by 
Senator Shelby M. Cullom. of Illinois, the stone was transferred to 
Springfield to be placed in the National Lincoln Moiunnent then in 
process of erection. 

The stone is of conglomerate sandstone pronounced by a geol- 
ogist of Illinois to be in all probability artificial. It is STj/a inches long, 
1!) inches wide, and S^ inches thick. The upper C(\gc and ends are 
rough as though broken by a hammer; the lower edge and the side 
which bears the inscription are dressed true. The stone has no 
intrinsic beauty, but because of its associations, it will always be an 
object of interest to all lovers of libert}-. 

Many things used by Lincoln in his lifetime are preserved in 
Memorial Hall. Here are his surveying instruments, the compass, 
chain ruid Jacob stafT and the worn old black leather saddlebags in 



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which he carried implements and papers when as a young man, he 
went surveying in Sangamon County. There is a soap dish which was 
in his bedroom and curtain fixtures, tassel and cord from his Spring- 
field home. There are two small black cane-seated chairs which are of 
his first set of parlor furniture ; a big ink-stained deal table and a plain 
wooden rocker both of which were in his law office in Springfield at 
the time he was elected President. 

In a glass frame is a faded piece of white silk with a pattern of 
red flowers. Deeper than the red of the flowers are dark stains of 
blood. This bit of silk is from the gown of the actress, Miss Laura 
Keene, who acted the leading role in "Our American Cousin" at Ford's 
Theater in Washington, on the night of Lincoln's assassination. When 
the murderer's shot rang out and the audience sat stunned and horror 
stricken, Miss Keene stepped from the stage into the President's box 
and took his wounded head upon her knees. She herself, one year 
later, brought the piece of blood-stained silk to Springfield and pre- 
sented it to the National Lincoln Monument. 

Among the number of Lincoln's personal letters which may be 
seen at the Monument, is a copy of one of his own hand, written to 
a little girl in Westchester County, New York, which shows his never 
failing courtesy and kindness. This little girl of thirteen. Miss Grace 
Bedell, wrote to Mr. Lincoln during his first campaign for President, 
telling him she thought he would look l)etter if he would wear whiskers. 
In the midst of all the turmoil and excitement of the political battle he 
had time to stop and write a personal reply to a child. In all serious- 
ness he told her that as he had never worn whiskers, he feared it might 
be considered a piece of "silly affectation" if he were to begin to culti- 
vate them. Not long afterwards, however, he did raise the beard which 
he wore until his death. He never forgot his little friend and on a later 
occasion when he made a hurried trip through the town delivering 
campaign speeches, he called for the child and taking her hand, he 
talked with her and told her that she might observe, he had decided to 
follow her advice. 

There are many photographs of scenes made forever dear to the 
American people because of their association with the life of Lincoln: 
his birthplace in Kentucky ; the cabin in which his parents were mar- 
ried ; the little home in Indiana where his mother died ; the wooden 
shack in which he kept post office and store in New Salem, Sangamon 
County. Illinois ; the old Rutledge mill where he probably met his first 
love, Ann Rutledge : his law office in Springfield ; the fine old home in 
which he married Mrs. Lincoln ; tlie tavern where they spent their 
honeymoon and many others. 

An almost life-size portrait of Lincoln was presented to the Monu- 
ment by Thomas J. Lincoln, a cousin of the President. This 
picture was painted by Dr. E. E. Fuller, of Keokuk, Iowa, and was 
awarded as a prize to the Fountain Green Wide y\ wakes, a political 
organization which took active part in the campaign of 1860. The 



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Wide Awakes carried the ])icture in llieir parades and kept it until 
after Mr. Lincoln's second inauguration as President. They then pre- 
sented it to Thomas J. Lincoln, of Fountain Green, who fulfilled a long 
cherished desire when, on his eighty-third birthday he carried it himself 
to Lincoln's tomb in 1906. 

A bit of a rebel flag in a frame with a picture of young Col. E. E. 
Ellsworth has an interesting history. Col. Ellsworth had been captain 
and drillmaster of the Chicago Zouaves, pronounced the best drilled 
military organization west of West Point before the war. In Spring- 
fleld he read law in the office of Mr. Lincoln and a warm attachment 
sprang up between the two. He accompanied the President to Wash- 
ington and was given a commission as lieutenant in the Regular Army. 
When the war began, he left at once for New York and raised with 
remarkable celerity a regiment of eleven hundred men of which he 
was made commander with rank of Colonel. He brought his regiment 
back to Washington and, under orders occupied the nearby town of 
Alexandria, Virginia. As he marched into the city, Col. Ellsworth 
noticed a rebel flag floating from the summit of the Marshall House 
and, accompanied by four soldiers and a few civilians, he ran into the 
hotel, ascended the stairs and tore down the flag with his own hands. 
-As he reached the foot of the staircase he was shot dead by the pro- 
])rietor of the hotel. His death was immediately avenged by one of his 
com])anions. Col. I^llsworth was buried from the East Room of the 
White House by special order of the President who mourned him as a 
son. Of all the heroes who perished in the bitter four years' struggle, 
not one was more lamented than this gallant young officer who had 
never seen a battle. 

In Memorial Hall may be seen an immense volume containing '.•;!() 
cjuarto l^iges. It is made up of co])ies of the notes and resolutions of 
syni])alhy which floofled into the White House after the assassination 
of Lincoln. By a joint resolution of both Houses of Congress, this 
volume was published in ISiil, in order to preserve these expressions 
of .sympathy which were sent from all ])arts of the world, written in 
not less than twenty-five languages. Legislative bodies, corporations, 
voluntary societies, jiublic asscm1)lies called together for the occasion 
and ]irivate individuals, one and all expressed their horror at the crime 
and their warm sym])athy with the bereaved family of the President 
and the American peo|)le. A number of the original documents sent 
to Mrs. Lincoln and the United States Government, after Lincoln's 
death, were forwarded by Robert T. Lincoln, son of the President, to 
John T. Stuart, of Springfield, in LSTL ^iid those now hang framed 
on the walls of Memorial Hall. Most of them ;ire on heavy vellum or 
|)archmcnt anrl are 1)cauti fully embossed. 



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SCHNEPP & BARNES, PRINTERS. SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 

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